Sidetracked

With the appearance of sidetracked.co.uk early this year a gap in the online outdoor magazine market was finally filled.

In the words of John Summerton “Sidetracked Magazine is an online journal featuring a limited collection of personal stories of travel, journeys and expeditions. The concept is simple: to capture the emotion and experience of adventures and expeditions throughout the world… and to inspire.”

With these words in mind I contacted John and said “I’ve travelled a bit, want a story?” His reply was very direct “I dont want any old travel blog or general story about a trip, but if you can capture a unique moment or personal event in about 1000 words with a couple of good pictures I’m interested”.

Ooh! 1000 words? me? GCSE grade c in English and haven’t spoke much English in years…hmmm, I’m also not much of a photographer and have an average point and shoot camera….Later that evening while cycling to work something strange happened. I started thinking back to my cycle trip through Uganda and the emotional roller coaster that I experienced there. Gradually I got a little inspired by a few major moments during that trip which where still fresh in my mind but had not been told to anyone, moments that changed my view of myself, travelling and my life but where very personal.

The next day I sat down for a couple of hours and before I knew it without any effort the following story flooded out of me. In my opinion this is what is missing in alot of blogs and travel stories especially for people travelling alone, the emotional side instead of miles/Km/Kilo’s and how easy/hard it all is. I had my doubts about sharing this personal story but I think its what the world needs. Less tough guy more emotions, good or bad.

Or maybe I’m just a big girl:-) I dont see myself writing like this too often but from time to time I hope to share special moments this way.

Click here to read the full article:

Sidetracked.co.uk intro